GenSan cable TV gets digital upgrade

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 30 Jan) – Households here will soon be treated to better cable television viewing through an ongoing upgrade and rollout of digital TV services here of leading provider SKYcable.

Ruel Hechanova, SKYcable’s regional sales head, said they are targeting to deliver by next month a mix of high definition (HD) and standard definition (SD) TV channels to local subscribers that have upgraded to its pioneering digital cable services.

He said the offering of the service is part of their efforts to eventually deliver a full range of HD cable TV channels to their subscribers.

HD TV channels are those with resolutions of as high as 1920 x 1080 pixels, way better than SD channels that are only at 720 x 480, he said.

SKYcable formally launched on Wednesday its digital cable services in this city, which is its second expansion area so far for this year. It initially introduced the service in the area last November.

The company, which has around 7,000 active subscribers here, launched the same services earlier this month in Dumaguete City.

It has so far delivered its digital services, which started in 2009, in the entire Metro Manila, Cavite, Laguna, Cebu, Davao, Bacolod, Iloilo and Baguio.

Hechanova said the digital TV rollout here is part of the company’s continuing initiative to provide families or households with high quality cable entertainment.

He said local subscribers were able to experience world-class entertainment and information, especially with the better quality HD channels that are delivered through the digital cable box or digiboxes.

“Digitization is very crucial in delivering the best quality products to our customers,” he said.

As part of the digital package, he said they introduced budget subscription plans and an expanded range of cable TV channels, which reaches around 100.

Gidgette Faustino, SKYcable’s regional marketing head, said the shift from analog to digital gives subscribers the access to a wider range of products and services that allows them to customize their cable TV plan to fit their family’s viewing preferences and budget.

She said the available subscription plans range from P299 to P780 a month, depending on the preferences of the subscriber.

Faustino said they are also “bringing cable viewing experience to the next level” with the introduction of the iRecord, an HD digibox feature that allows subscribers to record, pause and rewind live TV broadcasts or shows.

Arlene Deniega, SKYcable operations manager here, said they are targeting to complete the digital rollout in the city before the end of the year.

“We will provide all our subscribers with digiboxes to complete the upgrade from the analog service,” she said.

Aside from this, she added that the company is currently working on the massive expansion of its service area to provide their digital cable services to more households.